


Reintegration

by Laurasauras



Series: Olympus [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Earth C (Homestuck), F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-21 06:36:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19997482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurasauras/pseuds/Laurasauras
Summary: Dirk fuses Davepetasprite's Dave half back into Dave. There's some issues to work through.





	Reintegration

**Author's Note:**

> You don't need to read Olympus to understand this, this happens way before those events. I've been wanting to do something with _that_ author's note for a long time. If you're a fan of DaveRose like me, you won't need me to tell you which.

Jade is holding Davepeta’s hand so hard that you can see the muscles in her forearm standing out. Davepeta isn’t paying attention, whether because they’re a sprite or because they’re _very_ strong, you’re not sure. You don’t know if Nepeta is going to keep that strength, you don’t know how Jade and Arquius are going to go with their quadrantmate literally divided, you don’t know _shit_ about what’s going to happen next. It’s terrifying being so in the dark.

But Dave and Davepeta are set on this like you’ve never seen them before.

It’s not as if they’re never in sync, they obviously have a lot in common. Similar humour, mannerisms that overlap, they both are blindingly clever and insightful, even if they present themselves differently, and they don’t seem to have any issues with agreeing with each other the way Rose and Jasprose did before you reconciled them.

It’s just that they’re both very chill. Neither of them pushes if they can find another path, even if that means extra legwork. They’re pushing on this. 

‘Are you sure,’ you ask. Again. 

Dave rolls his eyes, but doesn’t answer because he’s just backing Davepeta up here, it’s their choice not his.

‘Dude,’ Davepeta complains. ‘We’ve been o-fur this. I like being me! But I don’t wanna die, and I don’t wanna be a robot and I miss …’

They take a deep breath.

‘I’m cool with who I am and I needed to be me. Like, both the people I was before I was me were just mad unhealthy. I needed to not be them and to be me instead and this has been the cat’s pyjamas, but it’s so over now. Not—’ They grimace at Jade and pat the back of her hand. ‘I’m not sayin’ it’s _over_ , I’m sayin’ c’mon! Next step! And half of me feels real strongly about that and the other half needs some more time to figure it out so it’s like, good! Let me take away some of those factors, see what we have left when we’re split, you know?’

You shift in your seat. You hate using your powers. It was different with Jasprose, she and Rose were so confident in it and it’s not like anyone else was protesting. You kinda feel like you’re killing someone here. 

‘Dirk,’ Dave says. ‘They’ve made up their mind, stop dragging this out.’

Jade just looks so miserable. Jane can bring Nepeta back to life, but it’s not just Nepeta she’s been dating. 

Fuck it. Worst case scenario, you think you can put them back together.

You stand up and ease your left foot backwards into a solid stance. 

‘You’ll do great, pumpkin,’ Jake whispers.

You smile grimly at him before you focus back on Davepeta and reach out. 

One of the reasons you hate your powers is because you never feel entirely in control of them. One second you’re centreing yourself in order to access the kind of cold fury and self-righteousness you need to be able to do this, and the next pink electricity is arching out of your palms and attacking your sibling. 

You can feel their twin souls wrapped around each other. It isn’t a clean split, it isn’t like Jasprose who felt like a person with a cat on her shoulder, this is a person who has fully embraced themself as two people. You don’t think this is going to be a smooth extraction. 

You can’t just ask Dave to come forward, that’s not how a prince works. You have to demand it, with full confidence that you will make it happen. And this is a willing soul, more willing than even Rose was, but it’s harder for the two to separate. You push aside any feelings of pity and doubt, they’re not helpful here, and _pull_. 

Dave’s soul is almost entirely free, but you can’t leave it without a home, so you push it towards the other Dave, rolling through the movement as if you’re performing tai chi, not ripping your sibling apart. 

This part is easy, the soul doesn’t want to be out in the open air, it wants a body. It collides with Dave and melts into him, finding gaps in him that have tugged at your empathy since you first met him and going a long way towards filling them. Dave puts his head between his knees and breathes deeply.

You look back at Nepeta (still very sprite-formed) anxiously. 

‘How are you feeling?’ you ask.

They squeeze their eyes shut and wrap their tail around Dave’s leg for a brief moment before letting go. You don’t know if they can be prototyped again, you doubt it with the way the sprites have been deteriorating, but you don’t think they’re risking it.

‘And, not to be awkward, but how are you feeling about pronouns?’

Nepeta gives you an unfathomable look and floats away, ignoring the fact that there’s a ceiling in the way.

‘Was that dickish?’ you ask the room at large.

‘They probably don’t know yet,’ Jade says quietly. 

You’re trying not to look at Dave too much, you know he doesn’t like looking weak, especially not with you. You’re deathly curious as to how he’s handling this, but you’d rather chop off your own head than make him feel uncomfortable.

‘You alright there, Dave?’ Jake asks kindly. 

Dave lifts his head up slowly and looks at you rather than Jake. You keep extremely still on the outside as if that isn’t just as big of a tell as the squirming you’re doing on the inside. 

‘I need to go have a fight with Rose,’ Dave says. ‘Holy shit I sound weird. Don’t fucking ask about my pronouns.’

You follow him, with Jake and Jade bringing up the rear, hanging just far enough behind you that you can barely hear that they’re whispering, but not the words. That suits you fine, learning about peoples’ feelings always leaves you with the uncomfortable impression that you should be doing something about it. And if you can’t hear them, Dave definitely can’t.

He lands on Rose and Kanaya’s front step and walks in like there aren’t rules about that kind of thing. You’re pretty sure those are strict rules, you and your similarly isolated friends got very thoroughly educated on Earth human courtesy. It’s hard to follow him past the threshold, you feel like you should press the doorbell on your way or something, but you don’t want to leave him alone right now. 

Jade pushes you on the shoulder a bit to keep you moving. You catch up with Dave in Rose and Kanaya’s lounge. Kanaya isn’t there, and Rose doesn’t look surprised by this development. She doesn’t even glance at you, Jade and Jake.

‘There’s a reason you weren’t there, isn’t there,’ Dave says.

Rose stares at him. She knew you were doing it today, had talked to you about it in a way that seemed academic. Now you’re thinking she was finding out exactly when and where she should be avoiding whatever the fuck this is.

‘That fucking coffee machine on the meteor, it did it all on its own, it wasn’t ‘til we got here that I learnt … Rose, you have a fuck-tonne of mugs and you hate half of them. You like the pictures or the colours or just the fact that you have infinity mugs, who the fuck knows, but you hate it when someone hands you a mug with a thick rim, or a colour that isn’t white on the inside, or if it’s too short. Too short! But not if it’s a tea cup! There’s different mugs for tea and coffee and hot chocolate! And I learnt that, I learnt all your stupid fucking rules that you don’t even _say_ , you just make that face and I know you and I _already fucking did_ , didn’t I? You made me learn it twice!’

Rose still doesn’t say anything, she just looks at Dave with sad eyes and lets him yell at her. You know this is about more than mugs, you’re not that socially dense, but you’re pretty fucking lost here.

‘I thought—he thought— _fuck_ this is disorienting! Davesprite thought we just weren’t talking about it. He let us make that decision and bowed the fuck out and you let him! And Dave was just oblivious? Do you even know—? Of course you do, you always know, you’re always so fucking perfect about what you do and don’t say and you’re allowed to remember but I’m not?’

Something about that hits Rose properly and she flinches, but she still doesn’t speak. You’ve never wanted to get involved in other people’s drama more. She can’t just be silent right now, that’s the last thing Dave wants, she needs to be more like Roxy, less like …

‘You know what, fuck this,’ Dave says. ‘Thanks for the legs, bro.’ He claps you on the shoulder as he leaves the house. 

You step as if to follow him, but Rose finally moves and stops you, hand around your wrist.

‘He needs time to process,’ she says.

‘What the fuck was that about?’ you ask.

You hate seeing this on her face, the way she can shut down her emotions and turn them into a coy smile. It’s almost weaponised house-wifery and it _rankles_. When you shut down, you look stiff and unnatural. Her unapproachability is a much more acceptable brand and you hate it.

‘I’m no Seer of Mind, but if I had to guess, I’d say that Dave attached personal significance to learning my habits and it offends him that another Dave had previously made that connection.’

‘Bullshit,’ you say.

‘Dirk, you look positively _ashen_ ,’ she says. ‘Now _that_ would be a development worth inviting you inside for. But as I never did, perhaps we can discuss this another time, when I’m not otherwise occupied.’

She has you stepping back, denial choking you and politeness disorienting you, before you realise what she’s doing.

‘Talk to Dave,’ you say. 

‘It’s a small world, I can’t exactly avoid him.’

Jake grabs your arm before you can do anything stupid. You shake your head, remind yourself that you aren’t actually a prince, you’re just a guy. _But you are a prince_ , your brain helpfully counters. Nope, shutting that down.

‘Rose,’ you try.

‘I’ll see you on Sunday, anyway,’ she says, holding her arm out in a way that indicates you should be leaving now. This time you comply.

You hesitate at the door and Jake pulls Jade along to give you and Rose a bit of space. Really, if you wanted her honesty you’d be better off texting her. She’d still bullshit you but she attacks a whole lot less when she doesn’t feel cornered.

‘He doesn’t do that,’ you say, because it’s worth saying. When Dave loses his cool, it’s like he overcorrects and gets softer. He roots out all of his own flaws and presents them next to his general issues, he never yells, he’s so _anti_ -confrontation

She hesitates, then tucks her hair behind her ears, hand on the door like she’s considering just closing it. You think about what Dave said, about her always saying everything perfectly. How the fuck would anyone go about addressing that as a character flaw? Speak _more_ carefully? She’s not infallible, none of you are. You don’t think you could handle it if he said that to you. 

‘It wasn’t something that could be put into words,’ she says.

‘Everything can be put into words,’ you disagree. ‘That’s the whole point.’

She stares you right in the eyes, unflinching.

‘Something happened between us.’


End file.
